Adobe guards documents

Adobe earlier this week announced the latest version of its Acrobat document technology and detailed how it would link with other Adobe products to let companies manage document workflow and keep a tight control over confidential information contained in Acrobat PDF files.

Acrobat 7.0, available from mid-December, extends the workflow capabilities that Adobe introduced in the previous release, to improve support for workgroup collaboration on documents, the firm said. A new enterprise product, Adobe Livecycle Policy Server, also lets firms control access to information in Acrobat 7.0 documents.

Mark Wheeler, Acrobat marketing manager at Adobe, said it is increasingly important for businesses to control access to data. "Companies have spent a lot of money securing their infrastructure against hackers, but what happens when an employee leaves, taking vital documents with them?" he asked.

Acrobat 7.0, when used with Livecycle Policy Server, lets firms apply usage rights to their information, said Wheeler. For example, a document can be marked as confidential, so only specific named individuals can open it, and the author can stop readers from copying or printing the document. If an employee leaves, an administrator can revoke their access rights, stopping them from opening any company documents that they may have taken off-site, he said.

This capability will prove important now that some firms have to meet new corporate governance rules such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Wheeler added. Livecycle Policy Server can also keep a comprehensive audit trail to show who has made changes in a document. Version controls also warn staff if they are looking at an outdated version of a document, and provide a link to the latest version.

Acrobat 7.0 also helps with workflows where a document may be produced through a collaborative process or needs to be approved by senior officials. Multiple reviewers can submit feedback to a document's author, who can then choose which changes to apply. The reviewers only need the free Adobe 7.0 Reader for this.

Another new feature is the ability to link to Microsoft Outlook and export a user's inbox into an Acrobat document, creating a searchable, read-only file. This feature would also help firms comply with corporate governance laws, Wheeler said.

Like the previous edition, Acrobat 7.0 comes in two versions: Acrobat 7.0 Standard lets staff produce PDF files from Microsoft Office apps, while Acrobat 7.0 Professional is aimed at high-end users working with complex documents. The Standard version costs about £270, while the Professional edition costs about £390.